CDU clears Alana’s pathway to degree

Charles Darwin University has opened its doors to a Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science student, whose allergy to rubbing alcohol kept her from completing her degree at a southern university.

Alanna Martin has spent the past 10 years living and breathing sport, as a full-time gymnastics coach and as a student.

She began studying the subject aged 16, attending her then local university in Queensland.

But in her final year, she found she could not complete the degree because a severe allergy excluded her from completing a compulsory unit.

The unit involved prepping an athlete with alcohol before testing their performance. Despite Alanna's severe allergy to alcohol, her university held firm that its use was essential in the compulsory unit. So began her search for a university where she could complete her degree.

Alanna said she chose CDU because the lecturers had proposed a solution that would allow her to take the unit.

She and her gymnastics coach and Olympic standard judge husband Andrew, quickly relocated to Darwin and, now eight months into her studies, she is back on track and set to graduate in October.

"CDU certainly proved itself to be a university focused on its students and their individual needs," Alanna said.

"I find them far more accommodating and flexible."

She said she had also benefited from the smaller class sizes at CDU that allowed for a great deal more one-on-one attention from her tutors.